While not everyone agrees with the proverb, a millennial couple who landed a house in a bucolic Rhode Island neighborhood for half what homes in the area usually cost swears by it.
The last year has been filled with milestones for Greer Gagnier, a property manager for her family’s real-estate business, and Kyle Verma, who works in finance. After years of dating, the couple, both 30, got engaged.
And, after two years of looking for a starter home in Rhode Island’s Pawtuxet Village, a town near Providence where Gagnier moved after college, amid an increasingly challenging housing market, they found it — take a look.
The couple’s house is a fixer-upper in every sense of the word.
Gagnier and Verma were looking for a starter home for two years before they found their fixer-upper cottage. Courtesy of Greer Gagnier
Their “cozy little cottage,” as Gagnier calls it, had been foreclosed.
Gagnier said neighbors told her the previous owner had abandoned it.
“He just stopped making payments on the house, moved into an RV or something, and got out of town,” she added.
Gagnier and Verma had seen the home before because it’s right down the street from the rental they currently live in.
But they had never ventured inside until Gagnier’s sister — who had gone to scope it out as a potential investment property — called them up in the fall of 2023.
“She’s like, ‘You gotta take a look at this. You would love it.’ So we ran right over there and fell in love with it,” Gagnier said.
The decrepit house was “scary-looking,” Gagnier said. The couple knew it would need a lot of love — and sweat equity.
The cottage was covered in grime, dust, and dog hair when they bought it. Courtesy of Greer Gagnier
“It was probably empty for about a year, at least. But it honestly looked like it was empty for 40 years,” Gagnier said, recalling her first impressions.
Dog hair, grime, and dust coated surfaces, paint was peeling, and the wallpaper was ripping off the walls. But with a little imagination, the couple saw past what initially looked like the set of a horror movie.
They envisioned a home where they could spend at least the next five to 10 years — a home where they could start a family. A quarterof a mile from the water, the roughly 1,500-square-foot property came with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a basement, and an attic.
“The bones were really good, and it just had a really nice flow. The layout was great. The size was perfect for what we need: a starter home,” Gagnier said.
Verma and Gagnier made an offer in the low $300,000s that was accepted in early 2024.
Verma and Gagnier are renovating the “worst house” in their favorite neighborhood in Rhode Island. Courtesy of Greer Gagnier
Because the house was foreclosed on, Gagnier and Verma were dealing with a bank rather than a seller, which was “frustrating,” she said.
“They took days and days just to respond to emails and wouldn’t answer phone calls,” Gagnier said. “We were supposed to close a month or two before we actually did.”
Nevertheless, they came to an agreement and had their offer in the low $300,000s accepted just after New Year’s Day 2024. According toRealtor.com, the median listing house price in Pawtuxet in the Providence area is $684,500, about double what the couple paid.
The price was right in line with their budget, Gagnier added. They were willing to pay up to $525,000 for a finished house, so she said they “figured, ‘OK, if we buy it for low threes, we can put maybe $75,000 to $100,000 into it and then be within our budget.”
The couple also thinks that the house’s value will double to the high $600,000s post-renovation.
Originally built in the 1920s, the house came with beautiful hardwood floors, an original fireplace, and a basement bar.
The cottage now has an open-plan kitchen and dining area. Courtesy of Greer Gagnier
“You open the front door, and the living room is actually fairly big,” Gagnier said.
The living room leads into the kitchen, which they have gutted and expanded into what used to be a separate dining area. French doors in the kitchen will eventually lead out onto a porch,…